PartyPoker Offers LIVE Lounge, Updates Software

November was a big month for PartyPoker. There was a big addition to its LIVE tournament scene, while online players were treated to a software update but faced some serious cash game limitations.

All the while, PartyPoker was preparing for its massive MILLIONS Online tournament with $20 million guaranteed. The action began with the first of four starting days on November 25. The $5,300 buy-in tournament brought in 1,574 total entries on Day 1A, out of which 1,332 were unique players and 242 were reentries. Those numbers put together $7.87 million toward the $20 million prize pool guarantee and set a record for the largest prize pool for a tournament on a single day at PartyPoker.

Only 230 players survived, but they won’t return for their second day of play for another week. The second starting day will be November 29 of this week, with Day 1C scheduled for December 2 and Day 1D on Monday, December 3. A turbo starting day will take place on December 4.

All will lead up to the final day of action on December 5.

So, yeah, PartyPoker has been busy.

Lounging LIVE

The company has been seeking to consistently improve its PartyPoker LIVE events. The hope of growing the tour has prompted PartyPoker to request feedback from players and incorporate as many suggestions as possible into the tour. With John Duthie leading the way as the head of LIVE, players have been assured that they will consistently see improvements to structures, tour stops, and satellite offerings over the coming years.

One of those changes was the introduction of My Lounge, the new area for PartyPoker players to relax away from the tournament grind. It was introduced recently at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic with the theme of “putting the community back into poker.”

MyLounge offers a number of significant perks, not the least of which are complimentary food and refreshments, including alcoholic beverages. There are also iPads provided for online poker or for personal, non-poker use. Charging stations are available for all types of electronic devices, and PartyPoker representatives are always available to help with anything from account issues to general questions about live or online offerings.

Upgrading Software

The latest upgrade to the PartyPoker software offers some changes primarily to the tournament lobby. Developers wanted to make changes per player suggestions that will provide more information on the screen, all of which will be easier to navigate.

According to this handy video narrated by Mike Sexton, tournament players can expand and collapse the dashboard to display or hide the information. The limited version contains everything from the level and blinds to the largest and smallest stack sizes of remaining players. Prize pool data includes the total available in regular and bounty pools, as well as starting chips and other important information. The digital clock gives players a front-row seat to the clock, with time remaining in the current level and time until the next break.

The expanded version of the tournament dashboard includes even more information, such as the full tournament structure, payouts, tables in play, and overall tournament data. Another new feature is the ability to search tournaments for specific players, nationalities, and stack sizes. Different colors are used to signal whether tournaments are in the registration process, running, or offering late registration.

According to Sexton, there are more changes in the works to be introduced in the months ahead.

Limiting Cash Game Choices

The aforementioned changes at PartyPoker seem welcomed and praised, but this one isn’t receiving quite the same reaction. PartyPoker quietly removed nine-handed cash games and those that had been dubbed “casual cash games” for recreational players.

The nine-handed game removal was written in a Two Plus Two forum post by a PartyPoker representative. “Poker Room management made the decision to remove the games to pool liquidity to the 6 handed games as the 9 handed games are no longer a popular choice,” wrote Colette Stewart.

As for the casual cash game tables, the idea had been introduced several years prior to allow single-table players to compete with others of the same mind, so as to protect recreational players from more skilled grinders who may prey upon them. However, it seems that the tables were not as popular of late, so they were recently removed.

Players noted that they initially found out about the changes by the inability to find those games on PartyPoker as of November 1.

There are no longer any full ring cash games, they are all 6 handed or less from today!

Jennifer began writing about poker while working at the World Poker Tour in the mid-2000s. Since then, her freelance writing career has taken her from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and back to her hometown of St. Louis, where she now lives with her two dogs. She continues to follow the poker world as she also launches a new subscription box company and finishes her first novel. Jennifer has written for numerous publications including PokerStars.com and has followed the US poker and gaming market closely for the last 15 years. Follow Jen on Twitter

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